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Immigration removal centres

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One of the most sensitive areas of operation for GSL is that of immigration removal centres for the UK government. With some seventeen years of experience  immigration services can claim to be the longest-serving of the government's contractors. GSL accepts and understands the trust placed in our people for the care and welfare of those held.

These immigration services contracts involve the provision of a safe environment, accommodation, catering, medical, religious, education and leisure services for people of diverse ethnicity and cultural backgrounds.

We are sensitive to the fact that many of the people in our care are concerned at the uncertainty of their future, as they await determination of their application to remain in this country.

The centres, operated under contracts of varying length, require the provision of:

 

In our immigration services work we are essentially managing communities. Our philosophy plays an important part in that, over the years, it has developed based on fairness, respect and understanding. Our policies are guided by respect for human rights and personal dignity of the people entrusted into our care, understanding and respect for cultural difference and diversity.

GSL operate Yarl's Wood Removal Centre in Bedfordshire.  The total capacity is just over 400 beds for women, men and families.

Tinsley House Removal Centre situated at Gatwick Airport, West Sussex is also managed by GSL. This facility opened in May 1996 and can accommodate up to 150 persons. It has separate accommodation for both male and female detainees and facilities for families with children.

Oakington Reception Centre in Cambridgeshire is also managed by GSL.  A 400 bed facility for accommodating men only.

 

Australia

 

On 27 August 2003 GSL signed a contract with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA), on behalf of the Commonwealth Government, to operate all Australian Immigration Detention Centres (IDC) and Immigration Reception and Processing Centres (IRPC). The contract is initially for four years with an option of a further three years.

The centres which GSL has responsibility for their operation are:

 

Christmas Island

 

One of GSL’s most remote locations is a small tropical island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Christmas Island is the exotic site of one of Australia’s five immigration detention centres, which GSL Australia operates for the Federal Government.

The challenge of running a detention centre on an isolated island, with almost none of the resources at hand that are available on the mainland, has been testing the skill and initiative of GSL’s employees for more than a year.

One of the most difficult demands to meet is that the contract requires GSL to provide professional services – including health, psychology, catering, and education and recreation – to the same standard that it delivers in the capital cities, all on an island with a population of 1500. It is a measure of the expertise and professionalism of employees and the subcontractors that the company’s first year managing the centre has been a resounding success.

Most of the detention employees work full-time and are permanent residents on the island. From time-to-time employee numbers fluctuate, depending on the number of detainees, and when additional employees are required, they are flown up from Perth, where GSL operates another detention centre.

The island was named after the master of a passing British ship saw the island on Christmas Day in 1643. Christmas Island was then largely forgotten for the next 200 years. Some newcomers find the remoteness of Christmas Island and the unfamiliar experience of living on a small island, difficult to come to terms with, but for most GSL employees, living and working on this exotic tropical island is a place that rest firmly in dreams.

For more information please click on the link: www.gslpl.com.au



 

 

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